Heavy Rain For Seoul, Western Japan This Week

Over the next several days, a slow-moving storm just to the south of South Korea could bring heavy rainfall and a threat for flooding from South Korea through southern Japan for much of the week.

Rain was just starting to push into Seoul, South Korea on Monday morning and looks to bring some heavy rain through the day Monday and even Monday night.

Rainfall for the area has been near normal for May, but for the year has been a bit below normal. This rainfall will be mostly beneficial for the farmers across much of South Korea.

However, the heavy rainfall could cause a threat for flooding and mudslides, particularly south of Seoul. Some of the bigger cities across the peninsula that could be affected by the rain include Busan and Gwangju.

Rainfall for northern parts of South Korea, including Seoul, are expected to be in the 0.50-1.00 of an inch (1.2-2.5 cm) range through Tuesday with the heaviest of this coming in Monday and Monday night. Southern parts of the country could see closer to 2-4 inches (5-10 cm) of rain before this departs on Wednesday.

The flooding threat will also be over western Japan, from Hiroshima through the southern islands of the country. This will primarily be for Tuesday through Thursday before the rain pushes off to the east, but flooding is still a possibility here.

Rainfall over western Japan will be on the order of 1-3 inches (2.5-7.5 cm). The heaviest rainfall for Japan is around Tuesday through Wednesday.

Lonely Swan watercycle in Han river, courtesy of Thinkstock.com

This rain will eventually push into the Tokyo and eastern parts of Japan, but most of the heavier rainfall looks to be off to the south over the Pacific Ocean. Rain for Tokyo area will generally be under 1 inch (2.5 cm) for Wednesday into Friday, but some of the mountainous areas to the north and west of Tokyo could come closer to 3 inches (7.5 cm) as the rain moves through.

This storm will be very slow moving, and with any of the rain from this, it could cause flooding on roadways and smaller streams and rivers. The majority of the bigger rivers across South Korea and Japan should remain below flood level though.